«Louis» et Mme la Vache drove up to the North Coast this past Sunday after church. They stopped at Francis Ford Coppola's winery. Mme la Vache got a nice vineyard shot that probably will wind up on the blog.

Your winery shots remind «Louis» of his mother's first visit to California when she was still alive. «Louis» took her on the obligatory winery tour. At Mondavi, they were standing in front of the fermentation tanks. The tour guide said: "You've seen how we crush the grapes and pump the juice into the fermentation tanks. Now I'm going to tell you how we make wine in a way you'll never forget!

When the juice is in the fermentation tanks, we add yeast. Yeast is a living organism - a little beastie. Little beasties need to eat. And what these little beasties eat is the sugar in the grape juice and they p*** alcohol and f*** carbon di-oxide, and that's how wine is made!"

Well he was right about never forgetting that: it was 30 years ago, and «Louis» still remembers it!